Egg white (albumen) is widely used in the food industry and in culinary applications. Among the useful properties of egg white are its capacity to bind food components together and then to be coagulated on heating to a solidified mass. The binding and heat coagulating capacities of egg white are used in a variety of food products.
Egg white is becoming an increasingly expensive product and attempts have been made to provide a cheaper substitute for egg white. No successful product has been forthcoming, however, and those products that have been suggested have lacked one or the other of the binding and coagulating properties of egg white.